If Only it was That Easy
by Lady-in-Waiting Kat
Summary: Max is but between a rock and a hard place soon after the birth of her daughter. What will she choose for that is the deciding fate of her infant daughter's future.
1. part 1

Disclaimer: ::Sniffle, Sniffle:: I don't own Dark Angel, Max, Alec or any of the other characters on the show, but all the others are mine. 

Summary: Max is placed in between a rock and a hard place soon after her daughter, Rachel, is born. What will she do in the face of this new danger?

Parings: M/A and many others 

Author's note: I know I haven't written anything in a long while but you know what school's like. ::Shrugs:: And as for the other stories that I started… lets just hope that this one gets farther along then they did. 

If Only it was That Easy –part one

          I stare intently down upon the flushed face of the infant cradled in my arms and I wonder if this is what it's all about. If it's all just about waking up to a new day not knowing what you'd fine and getting this… this wonderful surprise. The ultimate surprise of a new life and the joy of knowing that it came form you. And for this moment as I sit here in the unnervingly white hospital room I forget about the normals who call for our blood and the shitty weather and the poor supplies and all I can think about is the tiny life I hold in my unclean hands. 

     I never asked to be a mother. Especially with what's going on now. But as I sit here it feels like the most natural thing in the world. And finally I get just what Tanga meant, life just isn't complete with our your own child. So for now screw the rest of the world because right now my babies the only thing that matters.

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      Alec paces the hospital corridor anxiously his hands behind his back and his head bowed. On the bench across from him OC and Sketchy's eyes follow his progress back and forth, back and forth across the light blue and white-checkered floor. 

     They had never trained him for this. But then again, he thought, they had never expected this either. They hadn't planned it. They wanted perfect soldiers not daddies pacing the floors waiting for their babies to come into the world. Why was she taking so long!?!

     "Dam boo take it an easy already!" OC finally cries taking her head in her hands. "It ain't like boo's dieing in there she's only having a baby." 

      "Yeah! Man your making me dizzy." Sketchy added. Alec stopped mid stride to look over at his two friends and smiled sheepishly. 

     "Sorry guys." Alec nervously ran his hand through his hair as his leg attempted to drill a hole in the tiled floor. 

      "Calm down boy!" OC commended. " Look, you going all to pieces like this ain't gonna get it over with any faster so, Sit!" She pointed sternly to the empty space besides her on the bench. No sooner had Alec sat then he popped back up again as a nurse excited the room where they were keeping Max. 

     "Whoa! There Alec!" She cried in surprise putting her hands up in front of her. "Where's the fire?" 

     "Is she ok? Can I see her?" Alec asked craning his neck to see past the blond nurse.

      The young women laughed lightly and then smiled. " Yes, Alec you can see her now. But first," She said grabbing his shirt as he tried to run through her. " How about a hello Lexie, Thank you Lexie." 

     "Yea, yea, hello and thanks Lexie." He said still not looking at the girl in front of him. "Can I go now?" He cried impatiently still trying to develop x-ray vision so that he could see into the room before the door was actually opened. 

     "Okay, ok." Lexie relented and gracefully stepped to the side allowing Alec passage into the room. Lexie smiled happily as she turned to OC and Sketchy. " After a few minutes you two can go in, but I'd give them a moment alone." Lexie's smile darkened as she turned from the waiting normals. 

     The labor had been a long and hard one. It was one of the ones that Lexie hated to be a part of because both mother and child could have perished in the birth. Thankfully neither had, Lexie thought, as she thought of how Alec would have taken it. Relieved that it was all over Lexie shook her head, her steps becoming nothing more then echoes in the quite halls of the hospital.

     "Hey." Alec said leaning causally against the closed door. 

     "Hey yourself." Max answered looking up for the first time since she had been handed the baby. 

      "So," Alec began as he crossed the room coming to a stop only to lower himself unto the bed besides Max. " Who's this little stranger?"  

        Max beamed up at Alec before answering. " While I was hoping to name her Rachel if you don't mind." She added at the darkening of his hazel eyes. 

        "Why?" He asked not looking Max in the eyes as she searched his hardened face. Instead he gazed down upon the small face of his newborn daughter. 

       _Rachel _she wanted to name her _Rachel_. That one name out of all the rest conjured such memories for the young man as he sat there. In his mind's eye Alec saw a curly haired brunette with a disarming smile and sparkling blue eyes. He saw her besides him as they played the piano. Then they were in her father's pool and she kissed him. From there the memories turned bad. He saw her face as he revealed himself and his job to her. Lastly though he saw her still face and cold hands as he sat with her a hospital room much like this one. _Rachel_ such a powerful name and yet, even knowing it's history Max still wanted to use it for their child. 

         " Are you sure Max?" He asked still deeply in thought. 

         " I'm sure. Alec?" She asked shifting the baby to one arm and then taking his large rough hand in her small one. "Are you ok with this?" And then Alec remembered something. 

   ~Flash Back~

      "Max?" 

      "Yeah, Alec?" Max asked grabbing a handful of chips from the plastic blue bowl on the coffee table. 

      "If you had kids what would you name them?" Alec stared down at his hands clasped in his lap.

        "What!?!" Max cried. Her chocolate brown eyes going wide and her handful of Doritos falling to the floor. Quickly she flipped her feet off the top of the couch and twisted so that she could retrieve her lost snack. "See what you made me do!" She exclaimed punching him in the thigh on her way up. "Are you serious?" She asked when he didn't respond. 

         "You don't gotta answer if you don't wanna." He replied. 

         "While…" She began thoughtfully as she munched on a chip. "If it was a boy Ben and if it was a girl Eva." 

          "Who was Eva?" He asked looking down at her face as she resumed her position upside down on the couch. 

           "One of my sisters." She had answered forgetting her chips and sitting right way up. "She was our C.o.. Lydecker…" She paused just long enough to still the emotion the memory carried with it. Alec watched as she slowed her breathing as he had showed her how to just a couple of weeks ago, how she looked straight ahead at a fixed spot and willed all her painful memories into it. It only took a second to do but for Max it seemed like a lifetime. "Lydecker shot her on the night we were trying to escape. She had taken down one of the guards and then pointed her gun at him. He didn't hesitate." She finished in an impersonal monotone. 

          Alec draped an arm around her shoulders as they sat together in the silence some per pulse movie playing on the tube in front of them.  

 ~End Flash Back~

     "I thought,"He began. "That you wanted Eva to be your daughters name." 

     Max looked at him speciously. "How can you remember what I said almost a year ago yet you can't remember what I told you five minutes ago." She snapped her old fire returning to her chocolate brown eyes.

      "Maaaxxxxx!!" He said pointing to the baby. "There're more important matters right now. Like naming our baby. I promise you can kick my ass later." 

       Narrowing her eyes she stabbed an accusing finger in his direction. "You better remember that later pretty boy." She teased.

        Max sobered after a deep breath and a long look at the new life nestled safely in her arms. " She just looks like a Rachel. Don't you think so?" Max asked her beautiful face lit with some sort of inner light Alec didn't understand. 

        "She looks beautiful, Max, just like her mom." He extended one digit to gently stroke the infants face. 

        "But she has your eyes Alec," She pointed out and at once Alec knew she was right. " You know what Max?" 

       "What?" She asked in the same absent voice Alec had asked the question in. 

       "She does look like a Rachel." 

        "I told you so." Max said breaking the moment by sticking out her tongue. And then both tangencies grinned at each other. "Should we introduce her to her auntie Cindy and uncle Sketchy?" 

         "Yeah that sounds good." Alec said his finger moving all over the babies smooth surfaces causing her to smile.

          "O Alec did you see that she smiled!" Max cried enthusiastically.

          "Yeah," Alec said breathlessly. "I did."


	2. part 2

    Disclaimer: You know the deal not mine. 

Paring: M/A and many more to come

Summary: Max is put between a rock and a hard place after her daughter, Rachel, is born. What decisions will she make in light of the new problems. 

Setting: After F/N

Author's note: Really don't expect for this story to get updated so quickly I just had a couple more hours on hand today. I luv early releases. Anyways hope you enjoy and please review.  For all of you how reviewed last time thank you so much you really gave me some good ideas that I'm gonna try and work into the story. 

If Only it was That Easy: part 2 

     Max watched as Alec ushered OC and Sketchy out of her room. They had been there almost the whole day but now it was time that they were delivered safely back across the fence. It was too risky for them to stay here in TC with its toxic nature but all the same Max was sad to see them leave. She didn't know when she'd see them again or if she'd even see them again for that matter. Her eyes swam with tears as she tried to squash the waves of despair washing over her. 

    "It's only your hormones." A somewhat familiar voice said. Max blinked her eyes clearing them so that she could see who had spoken. 

     "Oh, hi Lexie." Max said her voice zapped of its earlier enthusiasm. " What's up?" She asked pulling herself up into a sitting position on the hospital bed. 

      " Just came by to bring you some dinner." The thin blond said showing her the plastic tray she held in her hands. 

       "Thanx." Max replied smiling as Lexie set the tray down besides her patient's bed. 

        "Let me know if you need anything else ok?" Lexie said as she turned to go. 

        "Yea, hmmm… Lexie, you said that it was just my hormones what did you mean?" Max asked her curiosity getting the best of her. 

          Lexie smiled her hands clasped in front of her as she faced Max. "A lot of the X's felt depression after the births of their children. It's a common side effect for females as their hormone levels return to normal."

         "Oh." Max said sliding her fork around on her plate. "Okay, Thanx again Lexie." 

         "You don't have to." Lexie replied putting her hand up as if to stop the other woman's words. " You've thanked me enough for one day." Her smile seemed somewhat forced to Max as she paused at the door. " I'll be back before the end of my shift to pick up your tray and the baby."

           "What?" Max asked looking up but Lexie was already gone. Shacking her head she turned to her food, turning it over with her fork. Why did it have to be pasta of all things?

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       Alec walked through the garbage-ridden streets of Settle his friends, OC And Sketchy, on either side of him. The trio talked lightly of the day's events as they made their way to OC's apartment. 

       The three met no hostility on the streets nor in the building once they got inside but that didn't stop Alec from keeping on his toes. Even as they entered the silent apartment Max and OC had once shared. He was to well aware of the danger posed to him by being on the out side to dive onto the living room couch as OC disappeared into Max's old room like his friend had done. Instead he erect near the entrance to the apartment his ears perked for the slightest unusual sound. 

       After a few moments OC exited her boo's room with a duffle bag filled with all of Max's old things. Alec took the bag from OC along with her warning about getting back safely to Max and his kid. He flashed her his devil-may-care look and turned to his other friend. 

        "Listen Sketch, you still wanna do an interview?"  Alec asked as they stood in the doorway hands clasped. 

         "Yeah man!" He beamed. "I could do it right now." Alec shook his head with a slight grin. 

     " Naw, not tonight. But, soon okay?" Alec asked his eyes not quite on Sketchy but on the woman behind him. " I'll be in touch." He said and then like a shadow cast by the light of a candle he was gone. 

        OC shook her head her lips pushed together as she lifted one hand to slap Sketchy on the head.   
         "Hey what was that for?" He asked rubbing the point of impact. 

          " If you gotta be told then you really are dense, fool." The coffee colored women strode past him with a swish of her hips to close the door. "He just had a baby tonight why'd he wanna stay away from her any longer then he's got a?" She asked her eyes daring him to make another stupid comment. And for once Sketchy did the smart thing and kept his mouth shut. 

           Lexie sat cross-legged on a counter in the nursery. Her brilliant blue eyes closed against the overhead light that penetrated ever corner of the room. Her mid- back length blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her slender hands held her ankles. She looked the perfect picture of serenity. Expect for one thing, the single translucent tear running down her smooth cheek. 

          Slowly her watery blue eyes opened to the sound of echoing footsteps. With the same deliberate slowness Lexie reached up a hand to flick the tear off her face. Her face a mast of tranquility hid her swollen heart, as the footsteps grew closer. By now she knew to whom they belonged. They were Alec's. 

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       " Hey ya Lexie." Alec smiled at the young women as he passed her on the way to Max's room.

        "Hey Alec." She responded returning his smile half-heartedly. 

         "What's the matter?" He asked pausing for a second before the open nursery door. 

         "Nothing." She replied with a shrug. "Just tired I guess." She yawned. 

         " Anything happen with Max and the baby while I was gone?" Alec inquired. 

          Once more Lexie shook her head. " I brought Max dinner but she didn't eat it." The tiny blond informed Alec. " The baby's been good. Hasn't cried once all evening." Alec nodded and grinned. 

            "Manticore would be proud." He laughed. 

            "Yea." Lexie smirked her eyes lightening some. "They would." 

             "See ya around." He called as he started on his way again.

              "Yeah, see ya." She called back. 

 Alec came to Max's door and listened for a moment sure enough he couldn't hear a sound other then breathing coming from inside. Smiling he opened the door and crossed the room to be at Max's side. 

                "Good morning sleep head." Alec said over the two women in his life. 

                "Morning?" Max said groggily. "What do you mean morning it's only 2 O' clock." 

                 "Exactly." Alec said sitting down besides her. "It's morning."

                 "No." Max corrected. "Morning is when the sun comes up and all good little tangencies are safe at home. Not wandering the streets of Seattle." 

                 "Now Maxie where would you get that Idea?" Alec asked smirking. 

                 " You smell like OC's place, Alec, and," She took a big sniff. " Like … like something else. What were you doing out there?" She asked curiosity tugging on his arm. 

                 " If you must know." He said with a heavy sigh. " I was running earrings for Mole. He cornered me on the way out." 

                 "Let me guess." Max said disdainfully. "Ammo, guns, and more cigars."

                "Hey Max you got his Christmas list memorized." Alec joked. "But no that's not what he wanted." Alec added after the look Max gave him. " He wanted a food supply to be picked up. He said that he needed to get you some more skittles and beer."  

                 To Alec's surprise Max broke out laughing. "What? What's so funny?" he asked but the look on his face only set her off again. 

                 "OMG Alec." She giggled tears running down her eyes. 

                  "What's so funny?" He asked again.

                  "I have no clue." Max said wiping the tears from her eyes as her giggles subsided. 

                   "Girls." Alec said shacking his head back and forth "There's no understanding them."

                   "Boys." Max countered. " There too understandable."  The two transgenics looked each other in the eye and after a moment both broke out laughing. Down the hall Lexie looked up at the sound and her heart jerked. She wished she could laugh.

A/N: Please review!


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